Cutlery-grinding machine



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A. JOHNSTON.

OUTLERY GRINDING MACHINE.

No. 377,201. Patented Jan. 31, 1888.

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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

A. JOHNSTON.

GUTLERY GRINDING MACHINE, No. 377,201. Patented Jan. 81, 1888.

(No Model.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 3. A. JOHNSTON.

OUTLBRY GRINDING MACHINE.

Patent (1 Zia Fifarne /A':

ETERS, Photo-Liihngraphm. Washlngton. 0. c.

' 4 Sheets-Sheet 4. A. JOHNSTON. GUTLERY GRINDING MACHINE.

(No Model.)

Patented Jan. 31, 1888.

wzness as lhvrrnn STATES .ALLEN J OHNSTON, OF OTTUM'WA, IOWVA.

CUTLERY=GRINDlNG MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 377,201, dated January31, 1888.

Application filed July 28, 1887.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALLEN Jonxs'rox, a citizen of the United States,residing in Ottumwa, in the county of \Vapello and State of Iowa, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Outlery-Grinding Machines, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in machines for grinding cutlery orother-articles which require to have a convex surface.

The blades of table-knives are usually and preferably ground with convexcurved instead of fiat or plane surfaced sides. Heretofore these kniveshave usually been ground upon the outside cylindrical surface of agrindstone or emery-wheel the thickness or width of which is equal orabout equal to the length of the knife blade, the knife being held bythe workman about parallel to the axis of the stone, and the convexitybeing given to the side of the knife by the workman continually rockingthe same on the stone as it is being ground. In this methodof grindingthe knife is and can be given little if any reciprocating movementacross the face of the stone, and as a consequence, owing toinequalities in the hardness, &c., of the stone at different parts, andthe varying amount of grinding required at different points along thelength of the knife, the stone or emery will soon wear uneven and itsperiphery become more or less wavy or made up of a series of high andlow bands. In practice, therefore, the workman is required to stopgrinding every hour or two and dress his stone by chopping or hackingits peripheral surface all over with a suitable instrument, and thusfilling it with a series of transverse grooves, cavities, or hackles,the hackles being made closer and deeper in the high parts of the stoneand fewer and lighter in the low parts, so that the stone may againreceive an approximatelytrue cylindrical surface. This method ofgrinding is not only comparatively slow, laborious, and expensive,requiring skilled labor, but it also results in quite a proportion ofthe stone being wasted, hacked, or chopped away instead of utilized.

The object of my improvement is to provide improved machines forgrinding knives or other articles with a convex surface.

In my improved machine knives or other articles are ground with a convexsurface by (No model.)

i automatically feeding the knife or article across the inside conicalsurface of a revolving annular or ring grinder. given to the surface ofthe article may be varied or regulated by varying the inclination atwhich the knife is held to the axis of the annular stone. If the articleis held parallel to the axis of the stone, it will have the fullconvexity of the inside curved surface of the annular stone. If it isheld at rightangles to the axis of the stone it will of course be groundon a plane or flat surface, and at intermediate inclinations the degreeof convexity will be inversely proportioned to the angle.

My invention consists, in a grinding machine, of the combination, with arevolving hollow or cup-shaped grinder, ofawork-holder reciprocatingacross the inside surface of said thereof.

It also consists, in connection with such grinder and work-holder, ofthe particular mechanism I have devised for operating the same, wherebyI am enabled to keep the grit from the working parts.

It also consists, in connection with such grinder, of an inclosing-caseprovided with an upper and lower water-receptacle, whereby thecentrifugal action of the revolving stone is made to supply the water orother liquid continuously to the grinding-surface and directly at thepoint where the work is being done. Vhere the grinding is done upon theend face or upon the outside periphery of the grinder, as heretofore,and the grinder is revolving at great speed, as is usually the case, thecentrifugal action tends to quickly throw the water from thegrinding-surface of the stone. However close to the work,if the speed isvery high, the water may be poured upon the stone the centrifugal forcewill throw it from the stone and leave its surface comparatively dry. Bymy invention, however, the water is raised from the lower receptacle tothe upper receptacle by the centrifugal action of the outer periphery ofthe stone, and is delivered upon the interior peripheral surface of thestone by a spout or conductor leading from the upper water receptacle ortrough, and the water being thus delivered upon the inside of the wheel,the centrifugal action tends to spread The degree of convexity grinderin an inclined position to the axis it out in a thin annular sheet overthe whole 4 inside surface of the stone and to flow it over the grindingedge or surface-of the stone all- Y of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is averticalcross-section on line 4 4c of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detail perspectiveview of the hollow stone and inclined reciprocating work-holder. Fig. 6is a detail horizontal sectional view showing the workholder and themeans for reciprocating the same. Figs. 7 and 8 are detail viewsillustrating the operation of the work-holder-reciproeating mechanism.Fig. 9 is a detail perspective view of the hollow grinder and the knifebeing ground thereon, and Fig. 10 is a crosssection of the reciprocatingwork-holder and its guideway. Figs. 11 and 12 are cross-sections of theknife, the former showing one side ground and the latter both. Thedegree of cdnvexity is exaggerated. Fig. 13 is a detail plan view of thesegment and gear for operating the knife-feed slide.

In said drawings, A represents the frame of the machine, which may be ofany suitable construction.

B is a hollow ring, rim, or cup-shaped grinder. This grinder may be madeof stone, emery, or other suitable material. The hollow grinder may, ifdesired, have one end or head, in which case the grinder will becup-shaped; but I preferably make the'grinder in the form of an annulusor ring.

B is a revolving holder in which the hollow grinder B fits, and issecured by the set-screws b. The stone or emery holder B is preferablymade cup-shaped, or with a closed, end, and is secured, by screw-threadsor otherwise, upon a hollow revolving shaft, B, which is journaled in asleeve, B mounted upon the frame of the machine. The annular grinder Bis adjusted or pushed out of its holder B, as it wears away, by means ofa follower-disk, b, which fits against the back end or edge of thegrinder, and is secured upon the adjustable the sleeve B.

rod 12, which fits in the hollow shaft B and is adjusted by means of theset-screw b", which works in the hollow threaded end of said rod. Thesleeve B also has a slight sliding movementin its bearing on the frameof the machine, for the purpose of "adj usting the pressure of thegrinder against the work or article being'ground. This adjustment iseffected by means of the threaded hand-wheel b", the threads of whichwork in threads b out upon The sleeve B is kept from revolving by a key,I), or other suitable means. The emery-holder B is furnished with a hub,12 of the same exterior diameter as'the sleeve B and fits snugly againstthe end of said sleeve. The interior of this hub is threaded closelyupon the hollow'shaft B, so that the grit or grindings worn from'thestone cannot get into the bearing or journal of the shaft B. Thefollower b and its rods b close the end of the hollow shaft B andprevent the grit to anyjappreciable extent working its way through thesame, and, moreover, the centrifugal action tends to throw suchparticles away from the axis.

0 represents the hollow case which incloses the grinder B and its holderB, and also constitutes the upper and lower water receptacles ortroughs, 0 0 The water in the lower receptacle, C, is maintained at suchdepth that the outer periphery of the grinder B or its" holder B willturn in the water, and by its centrifugal action throw or carry thewater up so that it will strike upon the inside of the case C and fillthe upper water receptacle or trough, G. A spout or conductor, 0 leadsfrom this upper trough, O, and delivers the water upon the interiorperipheral surface of the hollow or cupshaped wheel B. As the water,

is thus delivered upon the inside of the grinder,

the centrifugal force of the revolving grinder tends to spread it in athin film over the inside surface of the wheel, and to cause it to flowout in an annular sheet over the grinding edge or rim of the annularstone, and thus supply the water continuously and evenly to the stone atthe very point where the work is being done. By this means I am enabledto effectually prevent the heating of the article being ground, howeverrapidly the stone may revolve, and also to facilitate the work.

It is obvious that if the knife or article, 0, being ground were to beheld against the inside surface of the revolving stone, and aboutparallel to the axis of the stone, the convexity given to the groundsurface of the knife would be the same as the curve of the stone. Ingrinding cutlery I in practice usually eniploy ahollow stone about afoot in diameter.

Such a stone would give much too great a dearticle ground from the fullcurve of thestone I to a flat, or plane surface. By grinding the articleupon the inclined or conical surfaced end or edge of the annular stonenearly the whole material of the stone may be utilized.

D represents the inclined reciprocating work-holder upon which the work--knife or 4 other article-being ground is held and supported,and bywhich it is reciprocated across the conical surface of the annularstone. This work-holder, as shown in the drawings,is spe- 'ciallyadapted for holding table cutlery or knives. The holder, however, mayreadily be adapted to hold other articles. The holder is provided withalongitudinal lcdge,d,against which the back of the knife rests, andwith a pin or lug, d, to enter one of the handle-holes in the handle ofthe knife. The holder is further provided with a hook or clamp, d", toprevent the knife falling off the ledge when not being pressed againstthe grinder. The work-holder D is mounted and reciprocates upon asuitable guide, D. The guide D is mounted adj ustably or pivotally uponthe frame of the machine by means of its hollow pivot (Wand set-screw(1, so that the incliuation of the guide to the axis of the revolvinggrinder may be varied or adjusted as desired. The work-holder D isreciprocated upon its guide D by means of a rack,d,seer.1red to saidholder by screws d and agear, (F, on the shaft (Z which meshes with saidrack. The shaft d is revolved by means of a segment, (1", pivoted at Jto the frame of the machine, and which meshes with a gear, (1, on theshaft d". The pivoted segment (1 is furnished with a pin orfriction-roller, d, and is oscillated back and forth by a grooved cam,E, 011 the shaft' E. The shaft E is driven by a worm, f, on the shaft F,which meshes with a gear, f, on the shaft E. The shaft F is journaled ina sleeve, F, pivoted at F to the frame of the machine. The shaft F isfurnished with a driving-pulley on its end and is driven by a belt. Thesleeve F is furnished with a handle, F, at its outer end, by which theworm may be raised into engagement with the gear f. The sleeve F isfurther provided with a spring pawl or catch, f which engages acorrespond ing pawl or noteh,f upon the frame of the machine and servesto hold the worm f and gear f in engagement until the gear f has madeone complete revolution. At each con1 plcte revolution of the gearf apinor lug ,f*, thereon strikes the spring-pawlf and disengages said pawlfrom the catch f,and thus permits the worm f to drop out of engagementwith its gear f". The pivoted sleeve F, in which the shaft F revolves,may be prevented from dropping too far when the pawlf is dis engagedfrom the catch f by means of a slotted bracket or other support, asshown at f in Fig. 4, the slot being indicated by dotted lines. At eachcomplete revolution of the gear f the cam E of course makes onerevolution and the knife-holder is reciprocated,

back and forth across the beveled rim or edge of the hollow or cupshaped grinder B.

if desired, the mechanism may be readily arranged to cause theknife-holder to make two or more or any desired number of recip'rocations across the hollow grinder by simply changing the shape of thecamgroove E. In grinding cutlery or tableknives, however, I have foundone complete reciprocation of the knife and knife-holder to beordinarily sulficient for each knife. As soon as the worm f is thusdisengaged from the gearf, the knifeholder ceases to reciprocate, andwhile it is thus stationary the operator removes the knife,

one side of which has been ground, and places another knife in theholder, and then by lifting on the handle F he raises the wormf intoengagement with its worm-gear f.

It will be observed from the arrows that the stone revolves in thedirection to press or force the back of the knife against thelongitudinal ledge don theholder D. If the stone were to revolve in theopposite direction, it would tend to raise or throw the knife outofitsholder; and as it is also desirable to grind the knife with itsedge forward in respect to directi on of motion of thestone,I inpractice grind one side ofthe knife upon one machine and the other oropposite side of the knife upon another machine, the two machines beingduplicates of each other. excepting that the knife-holders are arrangedat the opposite ends of the annular stone.

For the purpose of protecting the guide or slide way D ofthe reciproeating work-hold er 1) and its rack d and gear (1 I make the guide groove orwayc in the nnderface ofsaid holder and of a dovetail shape, asindicated clearly in Fig. 10, thus giving the holder D an inverted boXshape, the ends of which also are closed by plates 1) D. The rack d andgear il are thus also protected and covered by the box form of thesliding holder D, the gear d being inclosed between the slide and itsguide I).

An angle-arm, (F, is secured to the frame of the machine and serves in ameasure to hold the knife or work in place on its holder 1). The ledge11, upon which the knife rests, should be made of hardened steel andseparate from the knife-holder slide, being secured thereto by screws,as indicated in the drawings.

In practice I usually employ hollow eylindrical emery-grinders, the samebeing cast or made in the form of hollow cylinders with square ends. Theend of the same upon which the grinding is done will soon assume a bevelor conical surface correspondingtotheinclination at which theknife-holder and knife thereon are held and reciprocated in respect tothe axis of the grinder. It is not necessary, however, that the grinderbe made in the form of a hollow cylinder. It may be in the form of ahollow cone or dish shape. In such case, however, it is obvious that asthe grinder wears away and the diameter of its bevel grinding-surfacebecomes less and less the inclination at which the work is held to theaxis of the grinder will need to be varied if it is desired to give thesame degree of convexity to the ground surface. If the grinder is madein the form of a hollow cup, the annular rim or ring-holder B will notbe required, as in such case the stone may be secured in the ordinarymanner upon the revolving shaft. If the disk or follower 1) (indicatedin Fig. 2) were made integral with the stone B, it would represent thehead or bottom of a cup-shaped grinder.

1 do not herein claim the process or method of grinding knives orcutlery with a convex surface, consisting in feeding the article acrossthe internal edge of a cylindrical revolving grinder, nor the method ofregulating the degreeof convexity of the ground surface by adjustiug theinclination of the line of feed of thearticle relative to the axis ofthe grinder, as the same constitutes the subject-matter of a divisionalapplication, Serial No. 259,3S7,filed December 30, 1887.

I claim- 1. The combination ofa hollow cylinder or cupshapedring-grinder having an internal cone-shaped end surface with awork-holder and a guide for said work-holder inclined to the axis ofsaid work-holder, whereby the side or surface of the article'to beground may be fed across and parallel to the conical end surface of saidgrinder,substantiall y as specified.

2. The combination, with a revolving hollow or cup shaped grinder, of atrough or receptacle in which the outer periphery of said grinderrevolves, a second troughor compartmentinto which the liquid is elevatedor thrown by the centrifugal action of the grinder, and having a spoutor connection leading to the interior of the hollow grinder, and bywhich it is thus automatically delivered upon the inner surface of thehollow or cup-shaped grinder, so that the centrifugal action thereofwill flow or spread the liquid entirely and constantly over and to thegrinding-surface at the very point and time the work or grinding isbeing done, substantially as specified.

3. The combination, with a hollow or cupshaped grinder, of a water spoutor conductor directed into the hollow grinder for delivering a supply ofwater upon its interior periphery, so that the centrifugal action willfiow or dis tribute the water constantly to the grindingsurface,substantially as specified.

4. Thecombinationofaholloworcup-shaped grinder with a water trough orreceptacle, an inclosing-case, an elevated water trough or receptacle,and a spout or conductor to deliver the water from saidelevated troughto the interior of the wheel, so that the centrifugal action may serveto automatically supply the water to the grinding-surface, substantiallyas specified.

5. The combination, with a hollow emery cylinder or ring, a hollowcylindrical holder for said ring, and reciprocating knife-holder slidemounted upon an adjustably inclined guideway, said guideway beinginclined toward the axis of said grinder and adapted to reciprocate saidwork-holder and the article held thereon to be ground in and out of saidhollow grinder and over and parallel to its in= side conical end surface, substantiall y as specified.

6. The combination, with a hollow emerycylinder,of a holderforsaidemery-cylinder and an inclosing-case provided with a lower and an upperwater trough or receptacle, substantiallyas specified.

7. The combination, with a hollow revolving grinder, of areciprocatingwork-holder and threaded sleeve B, and hand-nut b, for adj usting thepressure of the grinder against the article being ground in thework-holder, substantially as specified.

8. The combination of hollow grinder B,with its revolving holder B,secured to hollow shaft B", follower b, abutting against the end of saidgrinder, and adjustable follower-rod b mounted in said hollow shaft,substantially as mounted in said hollow shaft, and an adj usting-screw,b substantially as specified.

10. The combination of hollow grinder B,

its revolving holder B, to which itis secured,

having interiorly-threaded hub b hollow shaft 13, secured to said hub,journal-sleeve B, follower b, abutting against the end ofsa-id grinder,followerrod b adjusting screw 12 and wheel or nut b, for adjusting saidsleeve B substantially as set forth.

11. The combination, withhollow revolving grinder B, of reciprocatinginverted-box-form work-holder D, mounted upon a guide, D, in and coveredby said sliding box-form workholder, a rack secured to said work-holderupon the under side thereof, and a shaftjournaled in said guide andhaving a gear meshing with said rack and inclosed between said slide andguide D, oscillating segment d gear d, and cam E, substantially asspecified.

12. The combination, with hollow revolving grinder B, of reciprocatinginverted-box-form work-holder D, mounted upon a guide, D, in and coveredby said sliding box-form workholder, a rack secured to said work-holderupon the under side thereof, and a shaft journaled in said guide andhaving a gear mesh ing with said rack and incl'osed between said slideand guide D, oscillating segment d gear d, cam E, worm gear f, and wormf, mounted upon a pivoted or movable shaft, substantially as specified.Y

13. The combination with the hollow grinder B, reciprocating work-holderD, guide D, rack d pinion d shaft (1, gear (1, segment d, cam E, wormf,wormgearf, mounted upon a pivoted or movable shaft, spring-pawl f, catch7, and a lug or pin, f, on said worm-gear, substantially as specified.

14. The combination, with a hollow or cupshaped emery-grinder having aninside conical end grinding-surface, of a reciprocating knifeholder, anadjustable inclined guide upon which said knife holder rcciprocat-es,said guide being inclined inwardly toward the axis of said grinder andparallel to the inside conical end grinding-surface of the grinder, andmeans for reciprocating the knife-holder, substantially as specified.

ALLEN JOHNSTON.

Witnesses:

J. T. HAOKWORTH, A. G. HARROW.

